REPORT 

OF  THE 

LEGISLATIVE  COMMITTEE  OP  1848, 

ON  THE 

REMOVAL  OF  THE  QUARANTINE, 


REPORT 

Of  the  Select  Committee  appointed  by  the  House  of  Assembly  on  the  11th  of  April, 
1  848,  to  examine  and  report  as  to  whether  the  Quarantine  Establishment  in  the 
County  of  Richmond  should  be  removed  from  its  present  location,  and  as  to  what  local- 
ity said  Quarantine  Establishment  should  be  removed. 

The  Select  Committee  appointed  pursuant  to  the  resolution  adopted  by 
the  House  of  Assembly  on  the  1 1th  day  of  April,  1848,  respectfully  report : 

That  your  Committee,  shortly  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Legislature, 
entered  upon  the  duties  imposed  upon  them  by  the  resolution.  The  subject 
is  one  of  great  importance,  involving  as  it  does,  not  only  the  interests  of 
the  great  body  of  our  citizens  connected  with  the  commercial  concerns  of 
the  State  ;  but  also,  what  is  of  far  greater  importance,  the  protection  of 
community  against  the  spread  of  those  diseases  which  are  pestilential  or 
infectious  in  their  character,  and  also,  considering  that  those  interests 
necessarily  conflict,  it  is  one  of  peculiar  delicacy  and  difficulty ;  and  in 
order  to  come  to  a  correct  conclusion,  your  Committee  felt  justified  in  giv- 
ing a  large  portion  of  their  time  to  the  matter  ;  they  have  endeavored  to 
consider  it  without  regard  to  the  wishes  of  those  whose  feelings  or  whose 
interests  would  bias  them  either  one  way  or  another. 

The  resolution,  it  will  be  perceived,  contains  two  branches  of  inquiry  : 

First,  Shall  the  Quarantine  Establishment  be  removed  from  its  present 
location — and,  if  so, 

Second.   To  what  locality  should  it  be  removed  ? 

Your  Committee  in  examining  these  questions  have  used  their  utmost 
endeavors  to  procure  all  the  information  practicable,  not  only  from  per- 
sonal inspection  and  examination,  but  they  invited  information  by  notices 
through  the  public  press  for  all  those  who  felt  an  interest  in  the  subject 
matter  to  appear  before  them,  and  also  by  direct  request  to  such  as  were 
supposed  to' possess  either  peculiar  knowledge,  skill  or  experience,  to  give 
your  Committee  the  benefit  of  that  knowledge,  skill  and  experience,  and 
the  result  has  been  that  they  have  collected  a  mass  of  facts  and  opinions 
which  is  appended  hereto,  and  they  will  now  endeavour  to  set  forth,  as  suc- 
cinctly as  may  be,  the  conclusions  of  their  own  minds  from  such  personal 
inspection  and  examination,  and  the  evidence  produced  before  them. 

1 


2 


As  to  the  first  branch  of  the  inquiry — Should  the  Quarantine  Establish- 
ment be  removed  from  its  present  location  1  To  this  we  unhesitatingly 
answer,  YES;  and  for  the  following  reasons: 

The  great  object  of  a  Quarantine  establishment,  to  use  the  language  of 
the  statute,  is  "  to  prevent  the  spread  of  pestilential  or  infectious  diseases/' 
to  protect  the  community,  and  to  guard  the  public  well  against  those  dis- 
eases which  are  not  indigenous  here,  but  which,  coming  from  other  coun- 
tries, if  once  permitted  to  get  a  foothold  in  our  crowded  cities  and  villages, 
there  finding  the  necessary  aliment  to  sustain,  would  carry  disease  and 
death  with  them.  The  yellow  fever  and  cholera  are  instances  of  this  class 
of  pestilence  ;  also  diseases  of  another  character,  which  though  they  may 
and  frequently  do  originate  here,  also  come  from  abroad,  yet  by  prudent 
measures  are  arrested  and  confined  within  circumscribed  limits,  and  are 
thus  prevented  from  becoming  epidemic.  The  ship  or  typhus  fevers  and 
smallpox  are  known  examples  of  this  class  of  pestilence.  In  short,  the 
great  end  of  a  Quarantine,  as  has  been  well  said,  is  precautionary. 

As  to  the  propriety  or  necessity  of  such  an  establishment,  opinions  vary, 
and  learned  Doctors  have  disagreed  ;  and,  it  being  an  admitted  fact  that 
"  it  is  hard  to  decide  when  Doctors  disagree,"  your  Committee  content 
themselves  by  agreeing  with  what  this  State  has  said  time  and  again 
through  her  Legislatures,  that  a  Quarantine  is  highly  necessary.  This 
State  while  a  colony  commenced  legislating  on  the  subject,  and  from  time 
to  time,  down  to  the  year  1846,  have  passed  stringent  laws  for  the  preser- 
vation of  the  public  health,  and  this,  too,  notwithstanding  strong  opposition 
and  earnest  remonstrances  from  those  with  whose  interests  such  establish- 
ment comes  in  conflict ;  and  indeed  since  the  very  able  report  made  to 
this  House  by  a  select  committee  appointed  in  1845,  to  examine  the  subject, 
and  whose  report  will  be  found  in  Assembly  Document  No.  60,  for  the  year 
1846,  it  would  seem  to  be  no  longer  an  open  question,  but  the  paramount 
necessity  and  importance  of  a  Quarantine  establishment  to  have  been  deter- 
mined on  as  the  settled  policy  of  this  State. 

A  brief  review  of  the  Quarantine  laws  of  this  State,  and  history  of  its 
establishment  in  its  present  location,  if  not  strictly  germane  to  the  matter, 
may  not  be  out  of  place,  and  indeed  is  necessary  to  a  full  understanding 
of  the  subject.  The  first  law  on  the  subject  was  passed  by  the  Colonial 
Legislature  in  1758,  and  is  entitled  "An  Act  to  prevent,  the  bringing  in 
and  spread  of  infectious  distempers  in  the  colony,"  and  provides  that  ves- 
sels having  the  smallpox,  yellow  fever,  or  other  contagious  distempers, 
should  not  come  nearer  the  city  than  Bedlow's  Island,  and  should  make 
their  Quarantine  there  ;  and  heavy  penalties  were  imposed  for  a  violation 
of  the  laws.  This  law  was  substantially  re-enacted  in  1784.  A  physi- 
cian was  to  be  appointed  to  inspect  suspected  vessels,  and  the  penalties 
imposed  were  appropriated  to  the  light-house  at  Sandy  Hook.  Ano- 
ther Act  was  passed  in  1796,  by  which  a  Health  Officer  was  to  be  ap- 
pointed, with  seven  Commissioner  of  Health,  and  the  sum  of  <£2,000  was 
granted  to  erect  a  Lazeretto  on  [what  was  then  called]  Nutten  Island,  [now 
Governor's  Island,]  or  other  lands  more  eligible.  This  Act  was  amended 
in  1797,  and  three  Health  Commissioners  were  appointed.  Tn  1798  the 
same  law  was  re-enacted,  and  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  Commissioners 
of  Health  defined.  The  sum  of  $1,000,  part  of  the  $4,500  granted  by  the 
State,  to  erect  a  Lazaretto  on  Governor's  Island,  was  appointed  towards 


3 


repairing  the  buildings  for  the  reception  of  the  sick  on  Bedlow's  Island, 
and  the  remainder  of  the  said  sum  was  appropriated  towards  erecting  a 
Lazaretto  on  such  place  as  should  thereafter  be  designated  by  law  :  the 
avails  of  fines  and  forfeitures  of  recognizances  under  the  Act  was  to  be 
paid  to  the  Commissioners  of  the  Health  Officer,  to  be  by  them  applied 
towards  defraying  the  expenses  of  the  Health  office ;  and  repealed  the  former 
acts  on  the  subject.    Whether  a  Lazaretto  was  ever  built  on  Governor's 
Island  in  pursuance  of  these  laws  does  not  appear,  but  on  the  25th  of  Febru- 
ary, 1779,  an  Act  was  passed  amending  the  above  Act,  and  providing  that 
the  Commissioners  of  the  Health  Office  should  consist  of  the  Health  Of- 
ficer, a  physician  to  be  styled  the  Resident  Physician,  and  one  other  per- 
son to  be  appointed  by  the  Council  of  Appointment.    They  were  to  have 
the  same  powers  and  privileges  and  to  perform  the  same  duties  as  the 
Commissioners  constituted  by  the  act  thereby  amended.     The  Health 
Officer  was  required  to  reside  on  Staten  Island,  and  the  two  other  Com- 
missioners in  the  City  of  New-York.    These  Commissioners  were  autho- 
rized, with  the  consent  of  the  Governor,  to  purchase  a  tract  of  land  on 
Staten  Island  and  to  erect  a  hospital  thereon,  to  be  known  as  11  the  Marine 
Hospital,"  and  such  other  buildings  and  improvements  as  might  be  neces- 
sary to  carry  out  the  purposes  of  the  act.     It  also  provided  for  the 
anchorage  ground  of  vessels  subject  to  Quarantine.    This  hospital  to  be 
in  lieu  of  the  Lazaretto  established  by  the  act  thereby  amended,  and  to  be 
subject  to  the  same  regulations  and  provisions.    This  law  farther  provides 
that  if  the  Commissioners  could  not  agree  for  the  purchase  of  the  tract  of 
land  selected,  they  might  enter  upon  the  same  and  cause  a  survey  and 
map  thereof  to  be  made,  and  exhibit  such  survey  and  map  to  the  Justices 
of  the  Supreme  Court  or  any  two  of  them.    They  were  to  certify  the  same 
and  cause  them  to  be  filed  in  the  Office  of  the  Clerk  of  the  County  where 
the  lands  were  situated,  to  remain  as  a  public  record.    The  Justices  were 
then  to  appoint  not  less  than  three,  nor  more  than  five,  discreet  and  impar- 
tial appraisers  to  appraise  the  premises.    These  appraisers  were  to  ascer- 
tain the  value  of  the  premises  and  the  damage  which  the  owner  or  lessee 
might  sustain  by  the  appropriation  of  the  same.    Their  valuation  and 
assessment  of  damages  was  to  be  certified  under  oath  to  be  true  and  impar- 
tial— to  be  acknowledged  before  a  Master  in  Chancery  and  filed  in  the 
County  Clerk's  Office :  then,  upon  payment  of  such  valuation  and  assess- 
ment, with  the  costs  of  appraisement,  the  people  of  this  State  were  vested 
with  the  fee  simple  of  said  lands.    Full  regulations  were  prescribed  for 
the  government  of  the  institution,  and  the  sum  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars 
was  appropriated  for  the  purposes  of  the  act,  and  the  section  of  the  former 
act  making  an  appropriation  for  repairing  the  buildings  on  Bedlow's  Island 
was  repealed.    It  was  under  this  act  the  Quarantine  was  established  in 
its  present  location.    Since  then  the  law  has  been  amended  and  revised 
from  time  to  time,  but  the  great  principle  of  the  necessity  of  protecting  by 
law  the  public  health  against  imported  disease  was  never  lost  sight  of, 
until,  in  J  846,  the  whole  law  was  revised  and  the  present  law  enacted, 
upon  the  recommendation  of  the  Select  Committee  above  alluded  to,  after 
a  thorough  and  able  examination  of  the  whole  subject  by  them.  Expe- 
rience has  shown  the  wisdom  of  these  enactments  and  has  proved  the 
utility  and  necessity  of  a  Quarantine.    Let  us  be  cautious,  then,  not  to 
forget  what  has  saved  us  from  pestilence,  and  take  heed  that  impunity 
does  not  render  us  careless. 


4 


Such,  then,  being  the  great  objects  of  a  Quarantine  establishment,  and 
its  necessity  admitted,  the  inquiry  arises,  What  are  the  essential  requi- 
sites of  a  location  to  effectuate  that  object,  and  this,  too,  with  the  least  in- 
jury and  inconvenience  to  our  commercial  marine,  compatible  with  the 
great  end  to  be  attained  ?  These  requisites  may  be  summed  up  as  follows  : 
First — The  Quarantine  should  be  easy  of  access  from  sea  for  vessels  of 
the  largest  class,  as  vessels  of  all  sizes  are  required  to  perform  Quaran- 
tine. Second — The  anchorage  ground  should  be  spacious,  commodious 
and  safe  in  all  weathers.  Third — An  important  part  of  the  Quarantine 
is  the  lazarettc — its  hospital  and  warehouses.  The  situation  of  the  land 
should  be  airy  and  salubrious,  with  an  abundance  of  pure  water.  There 
should  be  ample  accommodation  not  only  for  the  sick,  but  where  the  con- 
valescents could  be  separated,  and  where  the  crews  and  passengers  de- 
tained could  be  comfortably  provided  for  until  their  probation  was  ended, 
and  they  could  safely  be  permitted  to  mix  with  the  community  without  the 
fear  of  infection  from  their  persons  or  clothes.  There  should  also  be  con- 
veniences for  vessels  to  discharge  their  cargoes.  It  is  frequently  desired, 
and  indeed  is  often  the  case,  that  vessels  discharge  their  cargoes  and  again 
refit  for  sea  at  the  Quarantine  ground,  and  it  is  often  necessary  that  goods 
are  required  to  be  unloaded  there  in  order  to  be  inspected  and  purified  be- 
fore being  admitted  into  market.  Fourth — Its  location  should  be  as  per- 
fectly isolated  from  the  surrounding  country  as  possible,  that,  if  necessary, 
a  complete  non-intercourse  should  be  enforced,  and  that  the  laws  might 
readily  be  carried  out.  A  Quarantine  location  combining  these  requisites 
would  not  only  effectuate  its  object  as  far  as  it  is  possible  to  do  so,  but  the 
great  objection  of  the  serious  injury  and  inconvenience  to  which  it  sub- 
jects our  commerce  and  commercial  interests,  would  in  a  great  measure  be 
obviated. 

How  far,  then,  does  the  present  Quarantine  establishment  in  Richmond 
county  combine  their  requisites'? 

The  present  Quarantine  establishment  is  located  on  the  north-eastern 
shore  of  Staten  Island,  and  comprises  about  thirty  acres  of  land,  including 
about  five  acres  belonging  to  the  United  States,  and  used  by  them  for  reve- 
nue purposes  connected  with  the  establishment.  The  cost  of  the  establish- 
ment has  not  been  ascertained,  except  so  far  as  appears  from  appropria- 
tions made  from  time  to  time  ;  but  the  value  of  the  property  at  this  time, 
should  the  Quarantine  be  removed,  is  estimated  at  from  $200,000  to 
$300,000.  The  various  hospitals  and  other  buildings  have  been  erected 
at  various  times,  as  the  exigencies  of  the  establishment  required — the  last 
erections  being  the  shantee  hospitals,  as  they  are  called,  near  the  north  and 
west  walls.  These  have  been  all  built  within  the  last  two  years,  and  were 
rendered  necessary  by  the  great  tide  of  immigration  which  swelled  upon 
our  shores  during  the  eventful  years  of  1846  and  1847,  when  thousands 
were  driven  from  their  homes  in  the  old  world  by  the  famine  which  pre- 
vailed, and,  bringing  with  them  the  germs  of  disease  engendered  by  want, 
had  to  be  provided  for  immediately  on  their  arrival.  They  crowded  our 
poor-houses  and  hospitals  to  overflowing  ;  the  already  extensive  buildings 
were  found  wholly  inadequate  to  provide  for  those  whose  payment  of  the 
tax  gave  them  a  right  of  admission,  and  these  shantee  hospitals  were  erected 
to  meet  the  sudden  emergency. 

At  the  time  the  Quarantine  was  established  in  its  present  location,  Sta- 


5 


ten  Island  possessed  in  an  eminent  degree  all  the  necessary  requisites 
above  stated,  and  it  possesses  them  now.  It  is  peculiarly  easy  of  access 
from  sea  for  the  largest  class  of  vessels.  The  anchorage  ground  is 
good,  and  the  harbor  is  safe  and  commodious  at  all  times  and  in  all  seasons 
and  weathers,  excepting  when  easterly  gales  prevail,  or  winter  has  filled 
the  bay  with  ice.  At  such  times  vessels  have  been  driven  from  their 
moorings,  and  loss  of  life  and  property  has  ensued.  It  possesses  a  climate 
famed  for  its  salubrity,  and  fresh  water  is  found  in  abundance  for  all  pur- 
poses, and  of  the  purest  quality  ;  and  when  that  location  was  selected,  it 
possessed  every  facility  and  accommodation  required,  and  no  place  could 
have  been  found  within  the  bay  and  harbor  of  New- York  which  at  that 
time  combined  so  many  of  the  essential  requisites  for  an  establishment  of 
this  kind,  and  in  such  perfection.  But  now,  however,  it  wants  that  isola- 
tion and  seclusion  without  which  a  Quarantine  is  but  a  farce.  When  the 
institution  was  placed  on  Staten  Island,  the  population  was  sparse ;  there 
were  but  few  inhabitants  in  the  neighborhood,  and  none  but  those  whose 
business,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  was  connected  with  the  Quarantine, 
and  these  had  to  give  bonds  with  heavy  penalties  not  to  enter  the  city  of 
New-York  during  the  Quarantine  season.  Since  then,  large  and  prosperous 
villages  have  sprung  up  in  the  immediate  vicinity.  Where  formerly  there 
was  nothing  but  farms  and  a  few  farm  buildings,  now  are  the  villages  of 
Tompkinsville,  New  Brighton,  Stapleton  and  Factoryville,  teeming  with 
busy  life.  Where  the  population  was  then  counted  by  tens,  it  can  now  be 
estimated  by  hundreds.  The  rapid  increase  of  the  neighboring  city,  and 
the  increasing  demands  of  her  commerce,  have  driven  hundreds  of  her 
citizens  to  Staten  Island  and  to  the  suburbs.  All  the  lower  wards  of  the 
city,  where  formerly  dwelt  her  merchant  princes,  have  been  in  a  great 
measure  abandoned  as  residences,  and  devoted  to  stores  and  warehouses, 
and  their  residents  have  been  compelled  to  seek  habitations  elsewhere.  The 
growth  of  the  upper  part  of  the  city  is  the  consequence  ;  and  the  nume- 
rous beautiful  villages  which  now  dot  the  shores  of  the  East  and  North 
Rivers  and  of  Staten  Island,  have  sprung  up  as  if  by  magic,  where  our 
merchants,  mechanics  and  others,  whose  business  is  in  the  city,  seek  rest 
and  refreshment  after  the  toils  of  the  day  are  over,  in  the  more  salubrious 
air  of  the  country.  At  that  time  a  few  row-boats  or  periaugers  were  the 
only  means  of  conveyance,  and  afforded  ample  facilities.  From  two  to 
five  hours  was  the  ordinary  time  of  pafssage  from  the  upper  end  of  Staten 
Island  to  Whitehall.  Indeed,  within  a  very  few  years,  a  single  steamboat, 
making  but  two  trips  a  day,  furnished  all  the  required  means  of  intercourse 
with  that  Island  ;  while  now  the  ferry-boat  makes  its  hourly  trip,  and  is 
crowded  with  passengers.  Then,  the  enforcement  of  the  Quarantine  laws 
was  comparatively  easy  ;  but  now,  from  the  great  facility  of  intercourse,  it 
is  impossible.  The  means  of  communication  are  so  easy  that  instances  are 
given  where  whole  ships'  crews  have  been  stealthily  carried  off  in  the 
night ;  and  the  passengers  by  the  ship  which  recently  brought  the  Asiatic 
Cholera  into  the  harbor,  and  which  created  so  much  alarm  throughout  the 
State,  becoming  tired  of  the  restraints  of  the  Quarantine,  eloped  en  masse 
— nor  was  there  any  power  to  prevent  it.  There  are  no  means,  from  the 
nearness  to  the  city,  of  keeping  up  a  sufficient  police  force,  unless,  in  the 
language  of  one  of  the  witnesses,  a  coast-guard  was  employed  to  row  around 
the  shipping,  and  a  regiment  of  soldiers  were  stationed  at  the  Lazaretto. 


6 


Another  fruitful  source  of  danger,  if  received  opinions  be  correct,  is  the 
constant  visiting  the  establishment  by  friends  of  the  patients.    It  is  well 
known  that  a  great  tide  of  emigration  has  set  upon  our  shores  during 
the  past  two  or  three  years,  caused  by  the  peculiar  circumstances,  both 
social  and  political,  of  the  Old  World,  and  which  with  the  great  induce- 
ments held  out  here,  must  continue  to  increase  until  means  of  transporta- 
tion fail.    This,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  has  brought  with  it  a  large 
amount  of  disease.    The  dictates  of  humanity — the  duty  of  protecting  the 
public  health,  as  well  as  the  legal  claim  of  the  emigrant,  arising  from  the 
fact  that  he  has  paid  the  tax  imposed  for  the  purpose — require  he  should 
be  provided  for  and  taken  care  of.    The  Quarantine  Hospitals  have,  in 
consequence,  been  crowded  to  overflowing  with  diseases  highly  infectious 
in  their  character,  propagated  by  the  impure  atmosphere  of  a  crowded  ship 
working  upon  a  system  already  enfeebled  by  want ;  and  the  epidemic 
typhus  and  other  diseases  of  like  character,  have  crammed  our  hospitals 
until  the  returns  of  the  Health  Officer  show  that  in  a  period  of  about  nine 
months  there  has  been  nearly  seven  thousand  admissions,  with  about  a 
thousand  there  constantly,  and  this  number  is  continually  increasing. 
Each  of  these  emigrants  have  some  friend  or  relative  here  who  have  been 
anxiously  looking  for  their  arrival  ;  the  father  has  sent  for  his  family  to 
come  and  share  his  home  in  the  New  World ;  a  sister  is  looking  for  her 
brother;  or  a  child  for  his  parent.    The  time  is  anxiously  awaited  when 
again  they  can  embrace  the  well-beloved  ones  and  the  long  desired.  At 
length  the  telegraph  announces  the  arrival  of  the  ship — her  passengers 
have  battled  the  famine  of  the  old  world  and  escaped  the  perils  of  the  sea 
— they  have  safely  arrived  at  the  "  haven  where  they  would  be,"  but  ship 
fever  has  marked  them,  or  they  have  been  exposed  to  the  smallpox,  and 
instead  of  being  allowed  to  go  to  these  friends  the  stern  mandate  of  the  law 
sends  them  to  the  Lazaretto  for  purification  or  for  cure.    Is  it  at  all  won- 
derful they  should  chafe  under  this  restraint,  and  should  break  their  bonds 
when  the  means  afforded  seem  to  hold  out  a  constant  invitation  to  do  so  ? 
Is  it  at  all  surprising  that  these  friends  and  these  relatives  should  hasten 
to  them  when  the  facilities  of  getting  there  are  so  many  %    The  doors  of 
the  Commissioners  of  Emigration  are  besieged  by  applicants  for  permits, 
and  so  great  has  been  the  pressure  that  two  days  in  the  week  have  been 
set  apart  on  which  their  friends  are  allowed  to  visit  the  patient  without 
restraint,  and  on  those  days  they  may  be  seen  by  hundreds  coming  and 
going  in  the  ferry  boats  to  and  from  the  City  to  the  Island,  and  the  extra- 
ordinary spectacle  is  presented  of  an  unlimited,  unrestrained,  and  licensed 
intercourse  with  an  establishment  whose  greatest  aim  is  to  prevent  that 
very  intercourse.    Now  if  there  is  any  truth  in  the  theory  and  any  reli- 
ance to  be  placed  upon  the  commonly  received  opinion,  that  these  diseases 
are  highly  infectious,  and  that  the  infection  may  be  carried  in  the  clothing 
of  those  exposed,  it  would  seem  to  follow  that  these  persons,  coming 
directly  from  the  infected  atmosphere  cf  the  Hospital  and  the  side  of  the 
sick,  must  present  a  fruitful  source  of  contagion;  and  indeed  the  alarming 
extent  to  which  the  ship  fever  prevailed  during  the  years  184b*  and  1847 
may,  no  doubt,  in  a  great  measure,  be  traced  to  this  source,  and  that  it  did 
not  become  epidemic,  and  that  the  City  was  not  devastated  by  pestilence, 
was  certainly  not  owing  to  any  protection  afforded  by  the  Quarantine. 
Nor  is  there  any  means  of  remedying  this  difficulty.    The  law  has  taken 


7 


al!  the  power  to  do  so  from  the  Health  Officers,  and  the  Commissioners  of 
Emigration  say  that  from  the  dense  population  surrounding  the  Establish- 
ment, the  great  facility  of  intercourse,  the  want  of  practical  means  of 
maintaining  a  proper  police  with  the  present  arrangements  at  the  Quaran- 
tine, beside  the  great  inhumanity  of  preventing  the  visits  of  friends  to  the 
patients,  render  it  impracticable  if  not  impossible  to  enforce  a  rigid 
Quarantine.  + 

Another  objection  to  the  present  location  was  urged  upon  your  Commit- 
tee with  great  force,  and  which  is  of  a  serious  character  as  far  as  the  ob- 
ject of  a  Quarantine  in  protecting  the  public  health  is  concerned,  and  has 
only  arisen  within  the  past  two  or  three  years.  It  is  this  :  in  these  emi- 
grant passenger  ships,  it  is  usual  upon  their  arrival  to  tear  down  the  bunks 
and  to  throw  them  overboard  with  the  beds  and  other  articles  which  it  is 
supposed  may  contain  infection.  These  articles  are  carried  by  the  tide  to 
the  shores  of  Long  Island  or  Staten  Island  ;  here  they  are  collected  by  the 
chiffoniers  or  rag-pickers  from  New. York,  and  are  brought  to  the  city  by 
cart  loads,  to  be  sold,  or  deposited  in  the  junk-shops,  &c.  Most  of  these 
articles  are  necessarily  infected  with  disease,  and,  of  course,  are  not  to  be 
permitted  within  the  city.  This  is  a  practice  of  almost  daily  occurrence,, 
and  it  is,  by  no  means,  uncommon,  that  while  the  vessel  is  detained  at  the 
Quarantine  for  thirty  days,  the  very  articles  from  which  the  greatest  dan- 
ger of  infection  is  to  be  apprehended,  and  which  have  been  the  great  cause 
of  compelling  the  ship  to  perform  Quarantine,  are  in  the  city  in  less  than 
twenty-four  hours,  and  this,  too,  without  any  power  of  molestation  or  hin- 
drance. This,  too,  arises  in  a  great  measure  from  the  nearness  of  the  loca- 
tion to  New- York.  Were  the  Quarantine  removed  to  a  greater  distance, 
these  chiffoniers  might  easily  be  prevented  from  carrying  on  their  nefarious 
trade,  and  the  same  tide  which  now  carries  these  infected  articles,  and 
with  them  the  danger  of  pestilence  and  death,  to  the  shore,  would  then 
make  these  out  to  sea. 

It  is  to  be  remarked,  too,  that  this  intercourse,  frequent  as  it  is,  and  un- 
restrained as  it  is,  is  directly  through  the  contagion — the  track  of  the  ferry 
boat,  as  she  makes  her  frequent  trips  to  and  fro  from  the  city  of  New-York, 
being  necessarily  through  the  midst  of  the  fleet  of  vessels  detained  at  the 
Quarantine  ;  and  it  requires  but  a  breath  of  wind,  as  experience  has 
shown,  at  any  time  with  a  congenial  atmosphere,  to  waft  the  poisonous 
miasma  from  the  infected  ship,  and  blow  the  spark  of  pestilence  into  a 
flame.  Nor  is  there,  nor  can  there  be,  any  power  to  prevent  this  inter- 
course, however  great  the  necessity  might  be.  This  the  experience  of  the 
past  Summer  has  fully  demonstrated  ;  for  when  the  Board  of  Health,  with 
the  powers  with  which  the  law  has  clothed  them,  ample  though  they  be, 
undertook  to  prevent  this  intercourse,  and  to  prescribe  the  limits  of  com- 
munication between  the  City  and  portions  of  Staten  Island,  its  only  effect 
was  to  prevent  the  ferry-boat  from  landing  within  the  infected  district, 
while  those  who  desired  to  visit  the  City  had  but  to  go  a  short  distance  to 
Stapleton  on  the  one  side,  or  New-Brighton  on  the  other,  to  find  there  every 
facility  of  communication  ;  and  the  evidence  shews  instances  where  per- 
sons spent  the  night  in  tending  upon  those  sick  with  the  yellow  fever,  and 
yet  coming  to  the  City  daily.  These  persons  were,  it  is  true,  put  to  some 
inconvenience  and  a  trifling  additional  expense  by  the  attempted  establish- 
ment of  this  cordon,  yet  the  City  was  in  no  way  protected  from  the  intro- 


8 


duction  of  pestilence.  An  examination  of  the  evidence  will  show  other 
facts,  equally  strong,  which  prove  that  the  present  Quarantine  wholly 
fails  to  effect  the  object  for  which  it  was  intended,  and  it  is  from  these 
facts,  as  well  as  personal  inspection,  your  Committee  unhesitatingly  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  Quarantine  in  its  present  location  is  no  Quaran- 
tine, but,  to  use  the  language  of  one  of  the  witnesses,  "  is  a  perfect  farce 
and  burlesque  that  while  it  is  attended  with  all  the  evils  and  open  to  all 
the  objections  of  the  most  rigid  Quarantine,  the  great  end  of  its  establish- 
ment is  frustrated,  and  that  so  far  as  its  efficiency  is  concerned  in  afford- 
ing protection  against  the  spread  of  pestilential  or  infectious  diseases,  it 
might  as  well  be  placed  on  the  Battery  or  in  the  Park  as  in  its  present 
location  on  Staten  Island,  and  for  this  reason  the  establishment  should  be 
removed. 

There  are  other  reasons  which  go  strongly  to  show  the  absolute  neces- 
sity of  its  removal.  We  have  before  adverted  to  the  fact  of  the  great  in- 
crease of  emigration.  This  increase  requires  a  much  larger  space  than  is 
afforded  in  its  present  site.  There  is  not  sufficient  room  for  the  increased 
wants  of  the  establishment.  Until  recently  the  persons  detained  there 
were  comparatively  limited  in  number,  not  to  exceed  five  hundred  in  a 
year;  and  eighty  patients  in  the  hospitals  at  one  time  was  considered  a 
large  number.  One  of  the  late  Health  Officers  says,  that  during  the  years 
1840,  1811  and  1842,  the  number  of  patients  varied  from  eight  hundred 
to  one  thousand.  For  such  a  number  the  accommodations  were  ample. 
The  Hospitals  were  only  used  for  the  specific  purpose  for  which  each 
was  built,  and  the  Yellow  Fever  Hospital  was  never  used  except  for  that 
disease,  and  was  often  closed  entirely.  Then  the  number  of  patients  were 
few  and  the  Hospitals  were  closed  from  November  to  April.  Now  they 
are  kept  permanently  open  and  crowded  with  sick,  many  laboring  under 
the  most  malignant  form  of  disease,  and  many  not  the  legitimate  subjects 
of  a  quarantine,  but  pauper  emigrants  from  the  City  of  New- York.  At 
the  present  time  the  number  has  increased  to  nearly  seven  thousand  in 
almost  nine  months,  with  from  seven  hundred  to  one  thousand  constantly 
there,  and  the  cry  is  "  still  they  come  "  To  meet  this  increasing  demand 
new  Hospitals  have  been  erected.  First,  the  North  Hospital,  as  it  is  call- 
ed ;  then  the  Shantee  Hospitals,  as  they  are  termed.  But  still  there  is 
a  want  of  room,  and  so  crowded  have  they  become  that,  as  one  of  the  Phy- 
sicians tells  us,  although  the  Hospital  of  which  he  has  charge  is  calculated 
for  only  about  one  hundred  and  twenty,  he  has  been  compelled  to  crowd  in 
over  two  hundred.  It  is  true  that  a  portion  of  them  were  convalescing  pa- 
tients and  well  enough  to  be  out  during  the  day,  yet  all  were  compelled  to 
sleep  within  the  Hospital,  and  the  natural  result  was,  many  suffered  from 
relapse  and  some  died.  Another  and  serious  evil  of  this  want  of  room  is, 
there  are  no  means  of  separating  the  sick  from  the  well  and  convalescent. 
But  all  whom  the  laws  require  to  be  detained  at  Quarantine,  or  whose 
payment  of  the  tax  gives  them  the  right  of  admission,  are  compelled  to  be 
mixed  up  together;  and  hence  we  have  seen  that  those  whom  ordinary 
disease  has  spared,  have  become  the  helpless  prey  of  the  pestilence,  and 
Cholera  and  Yellow  Fever  have  found  their  ready  victims  among  the  con- 
valescents of  other  diseases.  For  a  more  full  statement  of  this  matter  we 
refer  to  the  communication  of  the  Health  Officer  and  his  associates. 

Nor  can  this  objection  be  obviated  at  the  present  location  ;  all  the  pre- 


9 


sent  grounds  are  fully  taken  up,  and  from  the  manner  in  which  the  lands 
surrounding  the  establishment  are  owned  and  held,  it  certainly  would  not 
be  expedient,  if  practicable,  to  enlarge  the  boundaries  of  the  Lazaretto  of 
the  present  Quarantine.  Another  objection  is,  there  is  no  proper  place 
for  the  burial  of  the  dead.  A  great  source  of  complaint  has  been  that  a 
very  offensive  effluvia  arises  from  the  Quarantine  burying-ground,  and  it 
was  supposed  to  be  caused  by  the  mode  of  burying  the  dead.  That  an  ef- 
fluvia proceeds  from  the  place  not  only  offensive  to  the  smell,  but  delete- 
rious to  health  cannot  be  doubted,  if  any  reliance  is  to  he  placed  on  the 
assertions  of  witnesses  who  testify  to  the  fact.  Nor  is  this  remarkable 
when  we  consider  the  large  number  who  have  found  their  last  resting- 
place  there.  One  cemetery  is  already  rilled  and  another  is  rapidly  be- 
coming full.  But  the  cause  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  method  of  burial 
adopted,  for  every  precaution  has  been  taken  and  every  effort  made  by  the 
excellent  officer  having  charge  of  the  institution,  to  prevent  this  cause  of 
complaint.  He  says,  and  others  concur  with  him,  that  it  is  owing  to  natural 
causes  ;  theground  is  clayey  with  a  subsoil  of  soap-stone,  and  exceedingly 
porous.  Where  so  many  sick  are  congregated  the  deaths  must  be  numer- 
ous especially  in  the  hot  months,  when  pestilential  disease  mostly  prevails, 
and  whatever  method  may  be  adopted,  or  however  deep  the  last  resting- 
place  may  be,  still  the  effluvia  from  such  a  mass  of  decaying  mortality  will 
work  its  way  througli  porous  soap-stone  and  poison  the  air  to  be  breathed 
by  the  living.  Nor  can  the  objection  be  obviated  by  change  of  place. 
The  Health  Officer  says  :  "  The  whole  Quarantine  Ground  is  ill  adapted 
for  burial  purposes,  but  the  present  location  is  the  best  that  is  afforded." 
"  As  to  a  remedy,  I  can  see  none  feasible.  A  vault  would  be  liable  to  still 
greater  objections  and  it  would  be  impossible  to  remove  the  dead  to  any 
other  place  owing  to  public  prejudices  ;  these  are  the  only  alternatives." 

These  are  some  of  the  objections  to  the  present  Quarantine,  and  the 
whole  may  be  summed  up  in  the  language  of  a  learned  writer  on  the  sub- 
ject. He  says  :  a  Quarantine  is  always  oppressive,  but  the  complaints  as 
to  the  oppressiveness  of  Quarantine  regulation  are  almost  wholly  occasion- 
ed by  the  want  of  proper  facilities  for  its  performance.  Were  these  af- 
forded, the  burden  it  imposes  would  be  rendered  comparatively  light,  and 
-we  do  not  know  that  many  more  important  services  could  be  rendered  the 
country  than  by  the  construction  of  a  proper  Quarantine  establishment." 
These  remarks  apply  with  peculiar  force  to  the  State  of  New-York,  and 
to  the  great  commercial  emporium  of  the  country. 

Your  Committee  consider  that  one  great  cause  of  present  inefficiency 
of  the  Quarantine,  is  the  entire  alteration  made  by  the  act  of  December, 
1847,  transferring  the  control  of  the  establishment  from  the  Commissioners 
of  Health  to  the  Commissioners*of  Emigration.  Previous  to  the  passage 
of  that  act,  the  Marine  Hospital,  was  held  by  the  Commissioners  of  Health 
in  trust  for  the  people  of  this  State.  The  Health  Officer  was,  by  right  of 
his  office,  the  physician  thereof,  and  the  Commissioners  of  Health  (of 
which  he  is  one)  had,  in  all  other  respects,  the  superintendence  thereof. 
They  made  the  rules  and  orders  for  its  government,  employed  the  mates, 
nurses  and  attendants  therefor,  and  provided  the  bedding,  clothing,  fuel, 
provisions,  medicine  and  such  other  articles  as  might  be  requisite.  The 
whole  control  was  given  to  them,  and  they  were  required  to  report  an- 
nually.   But  by  the  act  passed  in  December,  1847,  and  which  will  be 


10 


found  in  Chapter  483,  of  the  Session  Laws  of  that  year,  this  control,  "  ex- 
cept in  regard  to  the  sanitary  treatment  of  the  inmates  thereof,"  was 
transferred  from  the  Commissioners  of  Health  to  the  Commissioners  of 
Emigration.  Under  this  act,  as  might  have  been  expected,  constant  diffi- 
culties are  arising.  There  is  constant  difference  as  to  the  division  of  au- 
thority. Disputes  arise  as  to  what  is  meant  by  "sanitary  treatment," 
and  what  control  over  the  establishment  this  gives  to  each  set  of  officers. 
The  Health  Officer  exercises  jurisdiction  over  the  Quarantine  Anchorage, 
while  the  Commissioners  of  Emigration  claim  the  right  of  control  over  the 
Lazaretto.  This  creates  disputes,  and  numerous  instances  are  given  as 
to  what  persons  were  entitled,  under  the  laws,  to  admission  into  the  Marine 
Hospital;  as  to  whom  should  be  guaranteed  and  whom  not;  what  arti- 
cles and  what  provisions  or  medicines  should  be  furnished  ;  what  attend- 
ants or  nurses  employed,  and  what  repairs  made.  The  consequence  has 
been,  the  discipline  is  destroyed,  the  buildings  are  becoming  dilapidated, 
the  sick  suffer,  the  efficiency  of  the  establishment  is  ruined,  and  the  in- 
terest of  the  State  is  materially  injured  ;  and  indeed  the  institution  now 
presents  more  the  character  of  a  large  pauper  establishment,  badly  man- 
aged, than  a  Quarantine.  In  making  these  remarks,  your  Committee  beg 
leave  to  disclaim  any  intention  of  impugning  the  character  and  efficiency 
of  the  officers  in  charge,  or  any  of  them  ;  on  the  contrary,  it  gives  them 
great  pleasure  to  bear  their  testimony  in  favor  of  the  high  character  of  the 
incumbent  of  the  Health  Office,  for  the  integrity,  ability  and  impartiality 
with  which  he  discharges,  and  the  untiring  devotion  he  gives  to,  the  duties 
of  his  office,  and  they  believe  that  it  is  a  great  measure  owing  to  his  in- 
flexibility of  resolution  in  carrying  out  the  Health  Laws,  so  far  as  he  was 
able,  that,  under  Divine  Providence,  we  were  spared  from  the  ravages  of 
yellow  fever  and  cholera,  during  the  past  season.  So,  too,  of  his  deputy 
and  subordinates.  They  are  competent  and  efficient,  and  zealously  and 
ably  do  they  second  their  chief  in  the  discharge  of  his  varied  duties.  Also 
the  Commissioners  of  Emigration  ;  they  are  men  of  high  character,  of  pure 
principles,  and  of  strict  integrity,  and  are  engaged  in  a  most  noble  and 
humane  commission,  and  well  do  they  perform  the  duties  imposed  upon 
them.  Nor  is  it  their  fault  that  a  conflict  exists  between  them  and  the 
Health  Commissioners.  They  have  not  been  disposed,  by  any  arbitrary 
exercise  of  authority,  to  throw  obstacles  in  the  way  of  carrying  out  the 
Health  laws;  on  the  contrary,  they  have  giyen  every  assistance  in  their 
power,  compatible  with  the  law  under  which  they  act.  But  the  statutes 
imposing  their  several  duties  and  defining  their  respective  powers  neces- 
sarily conflict,  and  the  objects  of  the  institutions  are  entirely  distinct. 
While  the  one  was  created  solely  to  protect  the  health  of  the  community 
against  the  spread  of  pestilential  or  infectious  disease,  the  other  was  es- 
tablished to  provide  for  the  maintenance  and  support  of  such  persons  ar- 
riving in  the  port  of  New-York,  who  have  either  paid  the  commutation 
required,  or  given  the  bond  as  provided  for  in  the  act,  as  would  otherwise 
become  a  charge  upon  any  city,  county  or  town  of  this  State,  and  to  use 
such  farther  means  as  would  prevent  them  from  becoming  a  public  charge. 
They  also  have  the  same  power  in  relation  to  children  coming  under  their 
character,  as  the  Commissioners  of  the  Alms  House  of  the  City  of  New- 
York  have,  under  the  act  respecting  "  apprentices  and  servants,"  or,  in 
other  words,  it  is  a  commission  established  to  protect  the  several  cities^ 


11 


counties  and  towns  of  this  State,  against  the  evils  of  foreign  pauperism. 
Thus  it  will  be  perceived,  the  objects  of  the  two  commissions  are  not  only 
distinct,  but  are  entirely  incompatible  with  each  other,  and  if  the  efficiency 
of  both  is  impaired,  which  we  believe  it  is,  materially,  and  if  a  collision  of 
authority  take  place,  the  fault  is  in  the  attempt  to  combine  two  inconsis- 
tent objects,  and  not  in  the  officers  deputed  to  carry  out  the  laws  ;  and 
but  for  this  unnatural  combination,  many  of  the  objections  to  the  present 
Quarantine  would  not  have  existed  ;  but  the  mischief  has  been  done,  and 
there  is  now  no  remedy  but  a  removal  of  the  establishment  from  its  pre- 
sent location. 

We  have  thus  far  considered  the  question  only  in  relation  to  the  effi- 
ciency of  the  Quarantine  in  its  present  location,  in  effectuating  the  great 
object  of  its  institution  in  affording  protection  against  the  spread  of  infec- 
tious or  pestilental  diseases,  and  have  arrived  at  the  conclusion,  that  public 
policy  requires  its  removal.  We  now  propose  to  consider  it  in  respect  to 
its  local  effect  upon  Staten  Island,  and  the  complaints  made  by  the  resi- 
dents there  in  relation  to  it.  That  its  present  location  exerts  a  baneful  in- 
fluence, that  it  has  been,  and  is,  a  most  serious  drawback  upon  the  pros- 
perity of  the  place,  and  that  the  complaints  made  by  those  residing  there 
are  not  unfounded,  cannot  be  disputed  or  denied. 

From  the  great  concentration  of  disease  there,  it  must  necessarily  be 
dangerous  to  the  health  of  the  population,  where  that  population  is  dense; 
and  this  is  the  most  serious  ground  of  complaint.  The  inhabitants  there 
are  daily  and  hourly  exposed  to  infection;  instances,  numerous,  are  given 
of  the  spread  of  that  most  loathsome  scourge,  the  smallpox,  from  the  vici- 
nity of  the  Quarantine  Lazaretto.  One  person  received  the  infection  from 
being  on  board  the  same  ferry-boat  when  a  person  sick  with  the  disease 
was  being  conveyed  from  the  city  to  the  Quarantine  Hospital.  Other 
cases  are  stated  when  it  was  conveyed  by  social  or  business  intercourse 
with  persons  connected  with  the  establishment.  Others  had  taken  it  from 
contact  in  places  of  amusement  with  persons  who  had  been  exposed,  and 
one  instance  is  given  where  the  contagion  was  communicated  in  church. 
The  deleterious  effect  of  the  vicinity  of  the  establishment  upon  the  health 
of  the  inhabitants  has  been  fearfully  proved  by  the  experience  of  the  past 
season.  Tn  the  month  of  August  last,  a  number  of  vessels  arrived,  in- 
fected with  that  scourge  of  the  South,  yellow-fever.  The  infected  vessels 
were  anchored  within  the  prescribed  limits,  and  the  sick  were  taken  to 
Hospitals,  the  ferry-boats  were  forbidden  to  land,  and  all  intercourse  was 
prohibited,  and  as  far  as  possible  prevented,  yet  in  a  few  days  the  disease 
appeared  among  the  boatman  and  others  employed  in  the  Quarantine  Dock. 
Next,  those  employed  at  the  steamboat  dock  adjoining  were  seized  ;  gra- 
dually, but  surely,  the  pestilence  marched  on  its  deadly  mission  for  nine 
days,  when  it  reached  its  extreme  southern  limit,  a  distance  of  about  one 
and  a  quarter  miles  from  its  starting  point,  attacking  almost  all  who  came 
within  the  infected  limits,  and  in  the  short  space  of  about  a  month,  one 
hundred  and  fifty  (exclusive  of  those  within  the  Quarantine  enclosure) 
were  attacked,  and  out  of  these  over  thirty  fell  victims  to  the  dread  vomito. 
All  business  was  stopped,  and  those  who  were  able  fled,  affrighted,  from 
the  scourge  ;  and  but  for  this,  no  doubt,  the  ravages  of  the  pestilence  would 
have  been  much  greater.  Nor  can  it  be  said  it  was  owing  to  any  fault 
of  theirs,  nor  to  their  own   imprudence  ;  they  had  not  exposed  them- 


12 


selves  to  it,  nor  did  the  infection  come  from  the  Hospital,  but  the  poisonous 
mia«ma  was  blown  from  the  ships  to  the  shore,  and  all  were  seized  who 
came  within  the  polluted  atmosphere.  Within  the  Quarantine  enclosure, 
too,  its  effects  were  most  revolting  to  humanity.  At  the  time,  numbers 
were  convalescent  and  almost  ready  to  be  discharged,  yet,  when  the  dis- 
ease appeared,  non-intercourse  was  declared,  and  an  embargo  was  laid. 
Those  who  were  there  were  compelled  to  remain,  the  well  with  the  sick, 
and  numerous  were  the  victims  to  the  scourge  from  this  cause.  So,  too, 
of  the  cholera.  The  statement  of  the  Health  Officer  gives  a  list  of  twenty- 
seven  persons  sent  there  with  other  complaints,  and  those  not  infectious, 
who  caught  them  on  the  arrival  of  the  disease,  were  tabooed  and  compell- 
ed to  remain.  They  now  moulder  in  the  Quarantine  Cemetery,  a  fearful 
argument  against  the  unholy  alliance  of  a  pauper  establishment  with  a 
Health  Department.  Nor  has  the  past  season  alone  furnished  cause  of 
complaint  on  this  ground,  for  the  very  first  season  the  Quarantine  was  lo- 
cated there,  some  twenty-five  of  the  inhabitants  sickened  with  yellow-fever, 
and  it  proved  fatal  in  every  case  with  but  one  exception,  and  every  sea- 
son, from  that  time  to  the  present,  when  yellow. fever  has  been  there  it  has 
prevailed  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  without  the  Quarantine  walls. 

Not  only  is  the  health  of  the  inhabitants  endangered  but  the  prosperity 
of  the  place  is  injured,  the  value  of  their  property  depreciated,  and  their 
business  in  a  great  measure  ruined.  There  are  other  causes  of  complaint 
detailed  by  the  witnesses,  and  which  will  be  found  in  their  evidence  here- 
with submitted,  which  occasion  continual  annoyance  and  discomfort  to  the 
residents,  and  renders  the  enjoyment  of  life  and  property  uncomfortable. 
In  tne  language  of  one  of  the  witnesses,  "  It  produces  an  interference  with 
the  full  enjoyment  of  their  natural  rights  which  no  other  portion  of  the 
people  of  the  State  are  subjected  to,  and  which  cries  aloud  to  the  proper 
authorities  for  redress.''  In  short  it  is  an  undoubted  nuisance  where  it  is, 
and  of  such  a  character  that  it  has  frequently  caused  the  interference  of 
the  Grand  Inquest  of  the  county. 

But  it  is  said  the  persons  who  now  make  these  complaints  have  settled 
there  since  the  Quarantine  was  located  there.  That  they  went  there 
voluntarily,  knowing  of  the  existence  of  the  nuisance,  and  that  now  they 
have  no  right  to  complain.  To  this  there  are  several  answers.  First, 
the  establishment  was  placed  there  against  the  wishes  of  the  people 
and  contrary  to  their  earnest  remonstrances.  It  was  stoutly  opposed 
at  the  time  by  the  Representative  from  that  County,  but  the  State 
in  selecting  this  location  for  their  quarantine  exercised  their  right  of 
eminent  domain.  They  took  the  land  needed  for  their  public  pur- 
poses contrary  to  the  wishes  of  the  owner,  only  paying  him  for  it  what 
appraisers,  appointed  by  themselves,  adjudged  it  to  be  worth,  and  now 
those  people  have  mostly  passed  away,  yet  their  descendants  and  suc- 
cessors have  succeeded  to  the  rights  of  the  original  owners,  and  are 
now  here  asking  for  relief  from  a  nuisance  which  has  become  intole- 
rable. To  this  relief  it  is  believed  they  are  legally  entitled.  The  law 
says  that,  that  which  was  a  nuisance  at  its  commencement  to  the  oc- 
cupiers of  houses  in  the  neighborhood,  will  not  be  less  a  nuisance  to  suc- 
ceeding occupiers  of  the  same  houses,  though  they  may  have  come  into 
the  neighborhood  after  the  nuisance  was  established  there  ;  carrying 
on  an  offensive  trade  is  a  continual  injury  to  the  occupation  of  houses 


13 


adjoining,  and  every  succeeding  occupier  will  have  all  the  rights  of  oc- 
cupation, and  may  complain  of  their  infraction,  though  these  rights 
may  have  been  frequently  infringed  in  the  time  of  his  predecessor,  and 
though  he  takes  the  house  knowing  of  the  existence  of  the  nui-ance  and 
volenti  non  fit  injuria — we  may  answer  he  might  have  taken  the  house 
knowing  the  nuisance  to  be  wrongful  and  relying  on  his  right  to  abate 
it;  nor  can  it  be  presumed  he  calculated  on  the  continuance  oi  that 
which  is  wrongful." 

But  there  is  another  answer  to  this  objection  :  If  the  argument  is 
sound  that  because  they  have  gone  there  knowing  of  the  existence  of 
this  nuisance,  and  therefore  have  no  right  to  complain,  and  that  the 
State  has  a  prescriptive  right  to  continue  it,  then  we  say  these  per- 
sons may  answer  and  insist  the  establishment  shall  be  kept  strictly  for 
the  purpose  for  which  it  was  instituted,  and  that  the  nuisance  to  which 
they  are  compelled  to  submit  shall  not  be  increased.  They  may 
say,  You  selected  this  place  as  your  Quarantine  location,  but  you 
have  converted  it  into  a  large  pauper  establishment,  which  you  have 
no  right  to  do,  and  to  which  we  object.  We  must  submit  to  stand  be- 
tween you  and  the  yellow  fever,  and  we  may  be  compelled  to  be  the 
Pest  House  of  the  State,  but  you  have  no  right  to  convert  the  place  into 
a  charnel  house  and  make  it  the  Potter's  Field  for  all  Europe.  The 
law  has  said,  "that  if  a  person  carry  on  a  noxious  trade,  though  in  a 
place  where  it  was  anciently  established,  in  a  manner  more  noxious 
than  before,  he  is  liable  for  the  annoyance  he  causes  his  neighbors  ad- 
ditional to  that  which  he  can  justify  by  proscription  or  pre-occupation." 
In  the  opinion  of  your  Committee,  this  common-sense  rule,  as  well  as 
rule  of  law,  applies  with  great  force  to  the  present  case  ;  that  the  Qua- 
rantine Establishment  has  become  not  only  more  dangerous  to  the  health 
of  the  neighborhood,  but  the  offensive  effluvia  and  disgusting  exhibi- 
tions complained  of.  The  greater  amount  of  disease  concentrated 
there  has  not  only  rendered  the  establishment  more  noxious  than  here- 
tofore, but  has  rendered  it  in  a  much  greater  degree  a  continual  source 
of  annoyance  and  discomfort,  and  the  enjoyment  of  life  and  property 
more  uncomfortable  ;  and  that  for  these  reasons  the  residents  there 
have  good  cause  of  complaint  and  have  good  right  to  ask  to  be  relieved 
from  this  annoyance  and  discomfort. 

It  may  well  be  doubted,  however,  how  far  the  State  is  justified  in 
setting  up  this  technical  and  hard  rule  of  right,  if  right  there  is,  against 
the  equitable  demands  of  a  portion  of  her  citizens.  It  has  been  often 
said,  and  well  said,  that  the  state  never  pleads  the  statute  of  limitations 
against  a  just  claim,  nor  does  she  ever  enforce  a  strict  legal  right  against 
natural  justice  and  equity  ;  and  we  trust  it  will  equally  be  held  she  will 
never  insist  on  the  continuance  of  a  nuisance  when  her  only  claim  to 
do  so  is  founded  on  the  right  of  preoccupation  or  prescription.  If  this 
had  been  held  a  valid  reason,  the  City  Alms  House  would  still  have 
been  located  in  the  Park;  gun-powder  magazines  would  still  be  found 
in  the  heart  of  your  City,  and  the  Lazaretto  would  have  continued  on 
Governor's  Island.  But  laws  require  a  moral  force,  without  which 
there  is  no  authority;  and  when  the  advancing  tide  of  population  ren- 
dered their  location  improper,  however  judicious  was  the  original  se- 
lection, they  were  compelled  to  give  way ;  popular  opinion  or  popular 


14 


prejudice,  demanded  they  should  retire,  and  in  accordance  therewith 
we  have  seen  the  location  of  such  establishments  changed  from  time 
to  time.  Apply  the  same  rule  to  Staten  Island,  and  the  Quarantine  will 
be  removed. 

For  the  reasons  therefore, 

First,  That  the  Quarantine  establishment  in  its  present  location 
wholly  fails  to  effect  its  object,  and  cannot  be  made  efficient  for  the  pur- 
poses for  which  it  was  instituted  : 

Second,  Because  it  is  injurious  to  the  health  and  fatal  to  the  prospe- 
rity of  Staten  Tsland,  and  the  complaints  urged  against  its  continuance 
there  are  well  founded. 

Your  Committee  are  of  the  opinion  that  the  location  should  be 
changed,  and  respectfully  recommend  its  removal. 

As  to  the  second  branch  of  the  inquiry  embraced  in  the  Resolution  : 
"To  what  locality  should  the  Quarantine  establishment  be  removed1?" 

As  a  general  answer,  we  would  say  the  present  location  is  too  near 
the  city  of  New-York;  it  should  be  removed  to  a  greater  distance,  and 
should  be  carried  as  far  as  possible — as  the  interests  and  convenience 
of  Commerce  will  permit — ^compatible  with  the  objects  of  the  institu- 
tion. Several  places  have  been  proposed  as  affording  a  suitable  loca- 
tion, all  of  which  your  Committee  have  visited  and  inspected  as  directed 
by  the  Resolution  under  which  they  were  appointed. 

Coney  Island,  Ward's  Point,  Prince's  Bay,  Sandy  Hook  and  Rob- 
bin's  Reef,  were  proposed  and  each  had  their  advocates.  The  annexed 
Diagram  of  the  Bay  and  Harbor  of  New-York,  will  give  a  general 
idea  of  the  situation  of  the  different  proposed  locations,  with  the  dis- 
tance from  the  city. 

Coney  Island  is  in  the  County  of  Kings  and  is  owned  by  the  town 
of  Gravesend.  It  is  a  sand  beach  and  is  used  only  as  a  fishing  station 
and  as  a  watering  place  for  sea-bathing,  for  which  purpose  it  is  much 
frequented  in  the  summer  season.  All  the  persons  examined,  with  but 
one  or  two  exceptions,  concur  that  this  would  not  be  a  proper  location, 
the  land  does  not  afford  the  necessary  facilities  for  a  Lazaretto ;  nor  is 
the  harbor  what  is  required,  it  is  too  much  exposed,  there  is  not  suffi- 
cient depth  of  water;  it  is  not  considered  by  those  conversant  with 
such  matters  as  a  safe  anchorage,  and  the  pilots  all  say  it  is  too  much 
of  an  open  roadstead. 

Ward's  Point  is  on  the  southerly  point  of  Staten  Island,,  and  so  far 
as  accommodations  for  a  lazaretto  are  concerned  has  every  requisite 
needed;  it  is  peculiarly  well  adapted  for  such  a  purpose,  but  it  is  too 
far  out  of  the  track  of  vessels  coming  in  from  sea,  and  a  Quarantine 
located  there  would  cause  an  unreasonable  detention  or  loss  of  time, 
especially  for  that  class  of  vessels  which  are  required  merely  to  be 
boarded  by  the  Health  Officer  for  examination.  Moreover  the  channel 
is  said  to  be  intricate,  narrow  and  difficult  to  navigate,  with  not  suffi- 
cient space  for  vessels  to  lie  at  anchor. 

Seguine's  Point  and  Prince's  Bay  are  also  on  Staten  Island,  but 
a  short  distance  from  Ward's  Point.  The  same  remarks  would  apply 
to  this  location  as  to  Ward's  Point.  The  interests  and  convenience  of 
our  commerce  would  forbid  the  selection  of  either  Ward's  Point  or  Se- 
guine's Point  and  Prince's  Bay  as  the  Quarantine  Station,  unless  the 


15 


"inconvenience  of  access  from  sea  could  be  obviated  by  a  boarding  sta- 
tion at  Sandy  Hook. 

Sandy  Hook  is  within  the  territorial  limits  of  New-Jersey,  but  is  oc- 
cupied by  the  United  States'  government  as  a  light-house  station,  and 
also  as  a  military  station  for  the  defence  of  the  harbor.  Sandy  Hook 
has  all  the  natural  requisites  for  a  quarantine  station  in  as  much  per- 
fection as  could,  perhaps,  be  found  after  leaving  the  present  location, 
and  is  peculiarly  adapted  for  the  purpose.  If  this  should  be  selected 
as  the  proper  location,  about  a  mile  south  of  the  light-house  would  pro- 
bably be  the  site  chosen.  Here  we  find  a  large  and  thrifty  growth  of 
cedars,  from  which  it  takes  its  name,  covering,  it  is  said,  about  six  hun- 
dred acres.  The  character  of  the  soil  is  a  white  sand  with  a  light  turf, 
not,  however,  so  sandy  but  that  it  is  capable  of  cultivation,  as  the  gar- 
den at  the  light-house  shows.  The  soil  is  dry,  the  situation  is  airy,  and 
the  climate  salubrious,  and  it  is  believed  a  quantity  of  pure  water  can 
readily  be  obtained  sufficient  for  all  the  purposes  of  the  establishment ; 
there  is  ample  room,  where  not  only  the  different  diseases  can  be  clas- 
sified and  kept  separate,  but  the  well  and  convalescent  can  be  accom- 
modated apart  from  the  sick,  and  out  of  danger  from  contagion.  It  is, 
moreover,  perfectly  isolated  and  secluded.  The  police  of  the  establish- 
ment could  be  maintained  with  ease,  and  the  observance  of  the  Health 
laws  enforced  without  difficulty,  while  it  is  so  far  distant  from  the  city 
that  the  intercourse  can  readily  be  governed  and  entirely  prohibited, 
when  the  presence  of  pestilence,  or  any  other  necessity,  renders  that  in- 
tercourse improper;  yet  it  is  not  so  far  removed  from  the  business  marts 
as  to  occasion  any  greater  inconvenience  to  the  commercial  interests 
than  such  an  establishment  must  necessarily  create.  Indeed,  so  far  as 
mere  distance  is  concerned,  when  we  compare  the  increased  means  and 
facility  of  transportation  now,  with  what  it  was  when  the  Quarantine 
was  placed  in  its  present  location,  Sandy  Hook  is  not  so  far  from  the 
city  of  New- York  at  the  present  time  as  the  north  end  of  Staten  Island 
was  at  the.  time  it  was  selected  by  the  State  for  a  Lazaretto.  Beside, 
the  location  and  position  of  Sandy  Hook  is  such  that  population  can 
never  centre  there,  and  its  selection  for  the  object  proposed  may  well 
be  considered  as  a  location,  "not  for  a  day  merely,  but  for  all  time." 
The  anchorage  ground  is  good,  and  the  harbor  is  commodious  and  am- 
ple ;  it  would  seem,  indeed,  as  though  Nature  had  intended  it  for  this 
purpose,  so  eminently  does  it  appear  to  be  fitted  for  a  Quarantine 
station. 

There  are,  however,  some  objections  to  this  location.  Vessels  of  an 
easy  draft  of  water  would,  in  coming  from  sea,  be  compelled  to  alter 
their  course  and  go  through  what  is  called  the  "  main  ship-channel," 
around  the  point  of  the  Hook,  to  receive  the  visit  of  the  Boarding  Offi- 
cer, instead  of  coming  up  direct  through  "  swash  channel,"  as  it  is 
termed  ;  or  in  other  words,  would  be  required  to  go  out  of  the  way, 
and  thus  be  longer  delayed.  The  detention  thus  caused  would  some- 
times amount  to  six  hours.  This  objection,  however,  only  applies  to 
vessels  of  the  smaller  size,  as  vessels  of  heavy  draft  are  now  compelled 
to  take  this  circuitous  route,  as  there  is  not  sufficient  depth  of  water  to 
permit  their  passage  in  a  more  direct  course.  Another  and  more  seri- 
ous objection  to  Sandy  Hook  is,  that  it  is  not  within  this  State,  it  being, 


16 


as  before  said,  within  the  territorial  limits  of  New- Jersey.  That  State 
has  ceded  jurisdiction  to  the  United  States,  to  be  used  for  military  or 
public  purposes,  the  State  of  New-Jersey  retaining  authority  for  the 
execution  of  civil  and  criminal  process,  but  the  establishment  of  Qua- 
rantine there,  it  is  believed,  would  in  no  way  interfere  with  the  purposes 
for  which  the  cession  was  made.  It  would  be  necessary,  however,  to 
obtain  the  consent  of  the  National  Government  and  that  of  our  sister 
State  for  this  purpose.  The  harbor  is  exposed  to  gales  from  the  West, 
as  it  is  said,  but  to  answer  this  is  the  admitted  fact  that  westerly  gales 
do  not  prevail  to  any  extent  during  the  summer  months,  which  is, 
strictly,  the  Quarantine  season.  Moreover,  whatever  location  may  be 
selected,  it  would  of  course  be  necessary  to  make  the  proper  erections, 
by  building  wharves,  or  otherwise,  for  the  safety  of  vessels  detained 
there,  and  these,  it  is  believed,  could  be  as  readily  made  at  Sandy 
Hook,  and  no  more  would  be  required  there  than  at  any  other  spot 
within  the  bay  and  harbor  of  New-York. 

Another  plan  which  has  been  submitted  contemplates  artificial  erec- 
tions on  Robbins'  Reef  and  the  adjacent  flats.  This  plan  is  fully  de- 
tailed in  the  communication  of  Major  Richard  Delafield,  of  the  U.  S. 
corps  of  Engineers,  herewith  submitted,  and  is  deserving,  and  should 
receive,  coming  from  the  high  source  it  does,  the  most  serious  conside- 
ration. It  presents  a  plan  for  a  perfect  Quarantine  System,  and  more 
complete  than  can,  perhaps,  be  found  in  the  world.  It  does  away  with 
the  objections  to  Quarantine  on  account  of  inconvenience,  and  while  it 
would  fully  effectuate  the  object  intended,  it  would  afford  all  the  facili- 
ties to  our  commerce  which  can  be,  consistent  with  the  object.  There 
are,  however,  objections  to  this  plan  which  are  serious,  and,  perhaps, 
insurmountable.  Your  Committee,  however,  submit  it  for  the  conside- 
tion  of  the  Legislature. 

In  presenting  these  various  locations,  we  do  not  feel  authorized  in 
recommending,  positively,  any  one  of  them  in  particular  :  but  we  pre- 
sent them  all,  remarking  that  in  our  judgment,  Sandy  Hook  is,  all  things 
considered,  the  most  suitable  location  for  the  Quarantine  Establishment  of 
the  State. 

All  the  communications  received  and  testimony  taken  by  the  Com- 
mittee in  this  matter,  are  herewith  submitted. 

WESSELL  S.  SMITH,  ) 
(Signed.)  ALEX.  STEWART,     S  Committee, 

GURDON  NOWLEN,  ) 


izx  Hthrts 

SEYMOUR  DURST 


